Stiffened jacket or envelope for supporting various parts of the human frame



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- 'W. H. JOHNSTONE. Stiffened Jacket .or Env lope forSupporting Various Partsof the Human Frame. No. 224,784.-' Patented Feb. 24, 1880.

' N.FETERS PHOT0-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

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W. H. JOHNSTONE. Stuffened Jacket or Envelope'for Supporting Various Parts of the Human Frame.- No. 224,784. PatentedFeb. 24, 1880:;

y-rhsha PNOTO-UTMOGRAPKER, WASHINGTON. n, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. JOHNSTQNE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STIFFENED JACKET 0R ENVELOPE FOR SUPPORTING VARIOUS PARTS OF THE HUMAN FRAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 224,784, dated February 24:, 1880.

Application filed August 13, 1879. m

stiffened envelope for any part of the human.

frame which it is desired to support or sustain, and, while several layers of woven cloth stiffened with shellac might suffice for this object, I prefer to employ a material which Icall.

a compoundfelt as one best adapted to the ends which I have in view, and which I have fully described in an application for a patent filedsimultaneously with the application for this patent. H

Toenable others skilled in the art tomake and use my invention, I will describe itsconstruction and operation.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective "view of one of my jackets; Fig. 2, a similar view of thebody or trunk which the jacket shown in Fig. l is designed to fit; Fig. 3, a

similar view of a wrap and plaster mold or i up cast made upon the body shown in Fig. 2, also showing a hollow iprotuberance to fit and sup-.

port a deformity in the back of the person, whom it is designed to fit; Fig. 4, a perspec' tive view of an envelope or support for the knee or arms; Fig. 5, a similar view of an envelope for another class of deformityof the knee or arm; Fig. 6, a sectional view, showing the construction of the felt which I use in my jackets or envelopes, consisting of a layer of short-fibered felt in the interior, loosely felted, and an exterior layer upon each side of long fibers, more closely felted; Fig. 7 a similarview,

showing more clearly the difference inlength of i fiber betweeni that of the interior layer (the dark fiber) and that of the exterior layer, (the lighter fibers,) there being only two layers shown here;Fig..8, a view similar to Fig. 1, showing thestrengthening supports or re-enforcements; Fig. 9, a view of a textilefabric for taking casts.

A, Fig. 3, represents a protuberance in the cast made by the deformityin the body which it is designed to support and strengthen, which in this case is a spinal weakness. 18, Figs. 1, 4, and 5, is the lacing. C is the inner layer of loosely-felted short fibers; D D, the outer layers of closely-felted short fibers.

Suppose that the body or trunk shown in Fig. 2 is to be fitted with a jacket such as is shown in Fig. 1 in order to support a weakness of the spine, such as is indicated in the mold shown in Fig. 3. It is first necessary to take the mold of the form of the body, and to do this I proceed as follows! I place the person to be fitted in the best position to establishextension of the spine. I previously prepare a solution of. plaster-of-paris, silicate of soda, par-affine, or anyother suitable substance or material. In this solution I saturate along bandage or series of strips of fabric-saymuslinand I pass the saturated strip smoothly and rapidly around the trunk of the person to i be fitted, applying the bandage in a sufficient number of layers to preserve when dry, in a stiff orrigid state, the exact form of the body of thcindividual, including any deformed part. When this mold is firm and hard I remove it by cutting it carefully up the front orother desired part, and remove it from thebody.

I can take this mold over a tightly-fitting sle'evelessundershirt; or, which I prefer, it.

may be taken upon the bare body, which should be carefully oiled as a preliminarystep toprevent the hair and skin fromsticking to the mold; or I take a solid mold with pure plaster-of-paris.

Now, when the mold above described has grown firm and hard and has been cut away, it willxbe found to have retained within exactly the contour of the whole surface of the body, as well as of the deformed part. The result will be a mold such as is shown in Fig. 3, excepting that it is not shown to be cut .in that figure. I now take a piece of my abovedescribed felting and cut it to a size suitable to cover the length and round of the body. I now prepare the solution in which to soak the felt so cut'to stiffen it. In preparing this so lution I prefer to use shellac as the stiffening agent, though other good agents known to the arts may be used. I employ a proportion of about four pounds of shellac to one gallon of alcohol, and to a proportion of about twentyeight square feet of compound felt I absorb about one and one-fifth gallon of the solution. I take the piece so cut and saturate it thoroughly in this solution. Now, as the interior of this felt is more looselyfelted than the outer layers, the interior will receive and retain by absorption more of the shellac than the outer parts. I then pass the piece through the cold calender-rolls, placed at just the same distances apart as is equal to the thickness of the interior layer of feltingthat is, of the interior lap. This rolling of the saturated fabric has the elfe'ct of equalizing the distribution of the shellac and of compressing nearly all of it out of the exterior laps, and of forcing it into the interior lap, leaving the outer layers soft and smooth. Thematerial must be thoroughly dried.

While the cloth is being thus prepared I take a plaster-of-paris cast in the form of a solid block by lilling the mold, Fig. 3, with plasterof-paris. When this cast is dry it will be an exact reproduction in form of the body of the person to be fitted, including the deformity above spoken of and every irregularity of surface. I now take the piece ofsaturated felt and place itin asteam-box to be softened. The action of the hot live steam upon the shellac in the felt is much to be preferred to that resulting from plunging it into hotwater. Hot water is apt to cake the shellac or run it together in a hard caked mass, while steam gently softens it and does not destroy the porosity of the fabric. After the felt has thus been softened itis wrapped about the abovenamed cast, Fig. 2, of the body, so as to bring the opening in front, to provide for subsequent lacing. Then allparts of the felt are gently pressed into the inequalities of the ca-stthat is, the felt is blocked upon the cast of the body-and as soon as it assumes sufficient stiffness (which ensues almost immediately thereafter) I proceed to cut off all superfluous parts of the feltt-hat is, I cut out the armholes and mark and cut the overlapping edges in front, so as to make a joint to be brought together by lacing, all as shown in Fig. 1.

Instead of using lacers for keeping the jacket or envelope closed tightly about the person, hooks and eyes may be used, or, instead of either of these methods, bandages may be wrapped about the envelope to keep it closed. Also, if it is desired to further strengthen or re-enforce that part of the jacket being formed which is to directly support the weak part, a piece of felt similarly saturated, dried, and softened is blocked against that part of the conformed jacket which it is so desired to strengthen, so as to be made to conform therewith; or a piece of steel-plate or brass or other metallic plate,-or thick leather or hard rubber, can be so used, excepting the last-named mate- Fn'ed so as to conform to it.

rials will be more difficult to conform to the exact shape. Leather and rubber can be softened, however, for the purpose. The jacket is then removed from the cast, and will be found to exactly conform to every part of the body of the person to be fitted which it is desired to support.

The re-enforcement can be riveted in place, as is shown in thecase of a side re-enforcement at E, Fig. 8. A re-enfbrcement can also be carried around the outside of the jacket in the general form of a belt. These re-enforcements are fitted upon thejacket while it is upon the plaster cast, and they are warmed and soft- Hooks or hooks and eyes, or, if desired, buckles and straps, are then aflixed to the two front edges of thejacket, as shown at B in Fig. 1, and it is then ready for use. As it is desirable to so strengthen these frontedges that the books will neither pull out nor, by being drawn tightly, break the edges down, I place a supplemental strengthening-strip of felt or leather along each edge,

as shown at F, Fig. 8, through which only the shank of the hook or eye is to pass.

As the disease for which the patient is being treated yields to the treatment, and as it will then be desirable to lace up the jacket more tigh tly, it will become necessary to pare off these edges of the felt jacket, so as to make the space inclosed by the jacket smaller. In view of this contingency I place the two rows of hooks or books and eyes back some distance from the edges to allow for the paring; but when I use the leather strip F, I simply stitch it to the jacket upon that edge of the leather strips which is farthest .away from the edges of the jacket, respectively, and when it becomes necessary to pare the edges of the jacket I rip out the stitching and set the strips back to a distance corresponding with the width of the parts out off. I thus form a jacket which presents to the body'of the person wearing it a soft, smooth, felted surface, while it possesses all the rigidity necessary to support the weak part, and also is rendered very comfortable, as it does not press unduly upon any one irregularity of the surface, since it conforms therewith.

Laced splints for deformities of the limbs are made in substantially the same way as those above described for the body, and are shown in Figs. at and 5. These laced splints are peculiarly valuable for caries, anchylosis, and sprained joints.

For common splints for broken joints, &c., excepting that I employ my newly-devised felt, I use the ordinary form shown and described in Ahls patents of May 17, 1859, October 15, 1861, and September 4:, 187 7-that is, the splints are made in two sections, one for one side of the limb and one for the other. They are warmed and applied to the limb so as to conform to it.

The difficulty with the material of all the old felt splints was that the felt was of uniform density and the shellac remained, to a great extent, upon the surface, the interior. This,when dry, rendered the instead of passing to surface harsh and disagreeable to the patient.

Because the alkaline solvent in the shellac gradually so disintegrated it that it was ren' dered liable to break upon the least bending, it would in a short time pulverize at points of a strain and fall out, thus taking away the element of stiffness from the splint. My fabric, however, has two soft surfaces, while the shellac, being dissolved simply in alcohol and protected from attrition by he soft surfaces, re-

tains its body and strength.

fore use the pure shellac and employ only a solvent which will evaporate without any deleterious influences upon the shellac, using no bath subsequently but the steam bath to soften.

There is another method of taking the mold and cast, which may be described as follows:

with the solution of shellac above described and dry it. It is then ready for use. I use it I use a strip of'muslin or other suitable fabric, either in one, two, or three layers, cut or slashed, as shown in Fig. 9. This I saturate f by first heating it, either in warm water or y steam, to soften the shellac, then wrap it about the body or limb of which a mold is to be taken. The slashes will allow the edges of the'material to overlap, instead of doubling up or foldi in g. The materialshould be handled quickly, as it will soon cool andbecome stiff again.

When it has dried upon the form of the per son it is cut off, and will be found to be a perfect mold thereof, from the interior of which a plaster cast can be easily taken.

Instead of plaster-of-parisfor the cast, Ican use any of the various kinds of cements known in the arts and used for similar purposes.

It willbe observed that my laced jacket or splint can be removed at will from the body of a the wearer. This enables the patient to wash, and also permits intervals of relaxation, in which the patient can exercise or rest.

Buckles and straps may be used instead of the lacing and hooks.

In using the simple splints for fractures,

where one section of the splint is clapped upon one side of the limb and the other upon the other side, I use an endless rubber band or hands to hold the splints in place, instead of using a long strip of muslin. I thus provide for theswelling of the fractured part going down audguard against the splints becoming loose, for the bands will contract as the pressure from within grows less.

Instead of my envelopes being open at only one side, I can have them open upon several sides and lace up at each opening.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The process herein described of forming a stiffened close-fitting jacket by first taking a mold of that part of the person which is to be fitted, taking a cast from the mold, and fitting the jacket by blocking it-upon the cast, substantially as described.

WILLIAM HAMPDEN JOHNST'ONE.

Witnesses:

HENRY V. BUCKLEY, WINFIELD S. J oHNsoN. 

